On May 22 at the graduation ceremony for the Class of 2016, the Sacred Heart-Griffin High School community inducted Sergio “Satch” Pecori into the SHG Hall of Fame. He was honored for the exemplary ways in which he has integrated the mission of SHG into his life.

Pecori was born in Italy and immigrated to America at a young age. He attended St. Joseph School and at the time of his enrollment knew very little English. He graduated from Griffin High School in 1968 and went on to earn a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana in 1973 and a master’s degree in the same field in 1974. He later was a recipient of the Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Illinois at Urbana- Champaign’s Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering.

He joined Hanson Professional Services, Inc. and worked his way up to being president and CEO. Under his leadership, the employee-owned Hanson has become an award-winning, national consulting firm providing engineering, planning and allied services.

Pecori is strong proponent of educational and mentoring opportunities. He has been instrumental in Hanson’s development and implementation of the Grow Our Own Minority Participation Program — a local program designed to mentor minority youth in the fields of science, technology, engineering and math. He has served on several local boards: Memorial Medical Health System, the Illinois State Chamber of Commerce, the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, the Hope Institute Foundation, Network Knowledge- PBS TV, the American Red Cross and Sacred Heart-Griffin’s advisory board.

Pecori and his wife, Rosemary, are the proud parents of Carlo and Anna. He is an outstanding example of how Catholic schools helped immigrant families in the middle of the 20th century to provide unlimited opportunities for their children.